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The Magic Chalk
12 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2008
50 people want to read
About the author
Kōbō Abe
217 books2,067 followersKōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer, and inventor.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 2, 2018
De eerste verhalen van deze bundel deden me denken aan de absurde, vreemde verhalen van Gogol, Michaux, Calvino en zelfs het gekke van Arends. In mijn beperkte literaire wereld zijn dat stevige referenties. Ik heb dan ook enorm genoten van deze bundel. Alleen 'Een vreemd lijk' viel me tegen, te lang, teveel hetzelfde.
De andere vier verhalen zijn echter top. Ze zijn het equivalent van evenwichtsstoornissen, van draaierigheid, dagdromen, licht hallucineren, fantasie vermengd met realiteit. De logica is verdraaid en de gebeurtenissen zijn surrealistisch, soms grappig soms verwarrend. Maar vergis je niet, de stijl is niet enkel stijl, de stijl maakt de inhoud scherper, dwingender. Via onlogische, intuïtieve weg ervaar je het drama of de glorie van de mens die ongewild buiten de objectieve werkelijkheid beland is.
De andere vier verhalen zijn echter top. Ze zijn het equivalent van evenwichtsstoornissen, van draaierigheid, dagdromen, licht hallucineren, fantasie vermengd met realiteit. De logica is verdraaid en de gebeurtenissen zijn surrealistisch, soms grappig soms verwarrend. Maar vergis je niet, de stijl is niet enkel stijl, de stijl maakt de inhoud scherper, dwingender. Via onlogische, intuïtieve weg ervaar je het drama of de glorie van de mens die ongewild buiten de objectieve werkelijkheid beland is.
July 13, 2024
(2,75) A short, hit-or-miss bundle of stories, all of them mirroring the state of mind during and after the Second World War in Japan. They range from just a handful of pages (The Red Cocoon) to a full fifty or so (A Strange Corpse) but they all work essentially in the same manner; utilizing magical realist elements to heighten the mundane to the poetic. They often work best when Abe remains brief and concise but the longer stories reach a level of unnecessary detail that might reflect a worried and anxious state of mind but which also bores quite easily in written form.
April 16, 2022
貧乏な絵描きの話。魔法のチョークで、壁にパンやコーヒーを描くと、あら不思議…。子どもの頃、これとよく似た空想をしたものである。
November 23, 2023
The Magic Chalk [1951] - ★★★★
This short story by the author of The Woman in the Dunes [1962] and The Face of Another [1964] tells of one poor, starving artist Argon who lives in a very cramped room devoid of any furniture. He discovers a red chalk in his pocket and soon realises that anything he draws with it has a possibility to turn into a real thing. He draws food, eats and is no longer hungry. And, then, when he works out how the magic of the red chalk truly operates, he feels limited only by his own imagination. It is Kōbō Abe, so there is uncertainty at every corner in this story and absurdity at its centre. The author was probably inspired by the myth of Pygmalion and numerous fairy-tales that warn against desiring or having unlimited power, telling of devastating consequences befalling anyone who wishes from the higher powers something more than what is simply necessary for life. The story remains simple and predictable, but manages to redeem itself somewhat by one purely Kafkaesque ending.
This short story by the author of The Woman in the Dunes [1962] and The Face of Another [1964] tells of one poor, starving artist Argon who lives in a very cramped room devoid of any furniture. He discovers a red chalk in his pocket and soon realises that anything he draws with it has a possibility to turn into a real thing. He draws food, eats and is no longer hungry. And, then, when he works out how the magic of the red chalk truly operates, he feels limited only by his own imagination. It is Kōbō Abe, so there is uncertainty at every corner in this story and absurdity at its centre. The author was probably inspired by the myth of Pygmalion and numerous fairy-tales that warn against desiring or having unlimited power, telling of devastating consequences befalling anyone who wishes from the higher powers something more than what is simply necessary for life. The story remains simple and predictable, but manages to redeem itself somewhat by one purely Kafkaesque ending.
February 23, 2014
Het titelverhaal is een juweeltje, waarvan de implicaties maar niet uit je hoofd te wissen zijn.
Bijna hallucinerend, als het niet tegelijkertijd ook zo logisch voelde
Bijna hallucinerend, als het niet tegelijkertijd ook zo logisch voelde
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews